“Immortals”
“The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned”.
Matthew 4:16 Isaiah 9:1,2
“Immortals” is inspired by the theme of a Baby Jesus Sleeping developed in iconography during the 17th century. The counterpoint between the beginning and the end of life was then bound together with the theme of Vanitas. The sleep of the infant Jesus symbolized the sleep of death and prefigured his future death and martyrdom. My approach is a reference to both a future death as well as the state of being unconscious to mortality issues in the early years of childhood. Their sleep is a symbol of their unawareness. I was photographing toddlers at the age when they start to understand what life is about, yet feeling immortal thanks to the comfortable unfamiliarity with mortal matters- I find this phenomenon fascinating. More from this project on www.piotrkarpinski.com